He succeeded to command the ISS Enterprise by assassinating Christopher Pike. His first action was the suppression of the Gorlan uprising through the destruction of the rebels' home planet. His second action was the execution of five thousand colonists on Vega IX. Kirk's rise to power was very much due to his possession of the Tantalus field, a device he stole from an alien scientist that allowed Kirk to vaporize uncooperative enemies remotely, without evidence.

According to the novel Dark Victory, Kirk stole the Tantalus field from a mirror version of Balok during an encounter between the Terran Empire and the First Federation, similar to the exchange observed in "The Corbomite Maneuver". In contrast, in the short story "The Greater Good" from Shards and Shadows, Kirk obtained the device from Dr. Simon Van Gelder at the Tantalus penal colony and used it to assassinate Captain Pike to become captain.

He found himself aboard the USS Enterprise in a different world than he knew – the Spock of that universe noted it was more difficult for the "barbaric" landing party to act civilized than it was for the civilized crew of his vessel to feign barbarity. After being imprisoned by Spock, he offered him fantastic bribes to get his command back. Spock proceeded to place the captives on the transporter, to wait for when the crew from his landing party reciprocated the action, and beamed themselves back into the places of their duplicates. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")

It was later revealed by IntendantKira to her counterpart, Kira Nerys, during a second crossover in 2370, that Kirk's situation upon his return would be far different. His Spock had relieved him of command, and had Kirk's Tantalus secret and the loyalty of his woman. Kirk's duplicate had strongly encouraged them to attempt to overthrow and change the Empire's negative effects on the galaxy.

Appendices

Background information

Had a would-be Shatner guest appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise come to fruition, Mirror Kirk would've come aboard Enterprise (with a revelation that victims of the Tantalus field - used by Spock soon after his return - are been displaced in time, not killed) in the hopes of using the transporter to return to his universe - which, in the process, he and an unwitting Archer would've created in the first place. [X]wbm

Apocrypha

Marvel Comics' "Fragile Glass", a sequel to "Mirror, Mirror", depicts Spock assassinating the mirror Kirk in short order after the return from the crossover. The story (later novel) "The Sorrows of Empire" in the Glass Empires anthology shows that after Kirk's return to his universe, Spock attempted to dissuade him from destroying the Halkans, showing that if they did, it would in fact, be even more difficult for the Empire to get the dilithium, but Kirk refused and destroyed the Halkan civilization anyway. Shortly after, Kirk was strangled to death by Spock in his own quarters, and Marlena vaporized his body with the Tantalus field. Decipher's Mirror Universe also had Kirk assassinated after his return.

However, DC Comics' The Mirror Universe Saga and Pocket TNG: Dark Mirror by Diane Duane both depict Kirk surviving, as well as the Empire in its current form. The latter actually depicts an Empire in the TNG-era, something that did not occur in the DS9 version of events. In DC's comic arc, Kirk finally fell victim to arrogance when he was executed, along with his staff, for the crimes of his duplicate from "our" creation, after Kirk tried to invade this universe's Federation.

In the Star Trek: The Mirror Universe Trilogynovels of William Shatner and co-writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, the mirror Kirk survives well into the 24th century via hibernation sleep (unlike his counterpart, who had to die twice to get into the 24th century). This version of events, which ties closely to the canon DS9 version, depicts Kirk as a madman who rose to ultimate power as the Emperor Tiberius I, with the help of Intendant Spock. Meanwhile, Spock had been fulfilling his promise and attempted to change the Empire from the inside, using Kirk's power, before his betrayal. Afterward, it is revealed that it was former Emperor Tiberius that brought together the Klingons and the Cardassians into a formidable alliance before his eventual disappearance for 78 years.

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